Toy with movable figures



July 11, 1950 I BORRESEN 2,514,356

TOY WITH MOVABLE FIGURES Filed Jan. 7, 1947 INVENTOR. Mao 5002.555

- f I I I 4 Patented July 11, 1 950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE -TOY WITH MOVABLE'FIGURES Nico Borresen, Los Angeles, Calif. Application January 7, 1947, Serial No. 720,498

2 Claims. 1 My invention relates to toys, and has particular reference to a toy that includes mechanically movable parts operated by a simple lever mechanism.

While various representative toys may be operated by the mechanism of my invention, I find that it may be advantageously employed on miniature representations of living subjects, such as human beings, although it is equally applicable to other living subjects, such as animals and birds. I will describe my invention, therefore, as applied to the representation of a man and a woman wherein the heads of these representative figures are movable upwardly and are rotatable. The faces of the figures accordingly may appear to look forwardly in the normal aspect of the toy, and when the toy is operated, the heads may be rotated and raised so that the faces appear in juxtaposition, as though performing the act of kissing.

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide a toy having mechanically movable parts that may .be actuated by a simple lever mecha nism.

Another object of my invention is to provide an animated toy wherein a single lever may actuate a plurality of members.

Still another object of my invention is to provide an animated toy having a plurality of parts that may be simultaneously actuated by a lever mechanism.

A further object of my invention is to provide a toy having a body portion representative of a man and a woman and having animated heads that move to place the faces of the heads in juxtaposition.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from the following description and claims, .considered together with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is an elevation view with parts broken away of a presentlyv preferred embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevation view of the toy of Fig. 1 with the forward molding separated from the rear molding to show the interior construction of the toy and illustrating theheads' of the toy in their actuated position;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view along the line IIIIII of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view' of the back molding of the toy; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the lever mechanism for actuating the toy.

Referring to the drawings, the toy may include 2 a body portion l0 which may include two principal molded members, a back molded member I I shown principally in Fig. 4, and a forward molded member IZ'identifiable in Fig. 3. The two body portions H and i2 may be secured together by gluing or otherwise attaching them at the joint between them. The toy may also include two shafts I3 and I4 having their upper ends project ing above the body Ill and upon which may be mounted the head [6 of a man and the head I! of a woman, respectively. These shafts may be inclined with respect to each other, if desired. The body member It may be of a size that may be conveniently grasped within the hand, and

additionally may be provided with means for securing it in any convenient receptacle, such as the mouth of a bottle. Accordingly each molding l l .and i2 may terminate in a tapered shank portion Ho and l2a, of a size that may fit within most bottles, and a thin strip l8 of .compounded cork or similar material may be wrapped around the two tapered portions Ila and Na to asssist retaining the toy as a whole in a bottle.

The forward molding l2 may be formed with various shapes thereon to carry out the representation of a man and a woman, and accordingly a tie and ooatline of the man may be indicated by raised portions I9 and the bust of the woman may be represented by raised portions 2 I. The head It and I7 may also be shaped to carry out the representation, and various features may be painted or colored thereon to increase this representative effect.

I prefer to form the body moldings H and II, as well as the heads, from plastic moldings, and any of a large variety of plastic materials may be used for this purpose. The use ofplastic materials, however, is merely illustrative, as various other materials could be used such as ceramics, sheetmetal, papier-mach, etc. The two body halves l I and I2 may be secured together by applying any suitable plastic solvent to the edges of the two body portions and joining them together. Likewise if the heads 16 and I! are made of twopart moldings, these'two parts may be secured together by the-use of any suitable glue, adhesive, or plastic solvent applied to the. edges thereof.

For example, Celluloid may be used as the plastic,.

and amyl acetate or chloroform may be used as solventsjfor causing the edges ofthernoldings to adhere. t

The two body moldings l l and I2 may include semi-circular bearing portions for journaling the shafts I3 and I4. Accordingly the upper edge of the two moldings may have semi-circular recesses 22 formed therein, and at a mid-point or lower portion of the moldings a transverse bracket 25 may be integrally molded to include semicircular portions 23. The shafts I3 and I i may be urged downwardly into the body members by tension springs 24 each having one end secured to the bottom of the shafts and having their other end secured to a hook 26 which may pass through an aperture-3t in the back molding. I I.

The shafts I3 and I4 may be rotated together with their associated heads IE and I1 by means of a lever 21 best shown in Fig. 5. This lever may be positioned in a rectangular aperture 28 in the rear molding I I, and may be held therein by*projecting ridges 29 on the lower surface of the lever.

I cept by the terms of the following claims.

Accordingly, as shown in Fig. 3, the trough3 I" between the two ridges 29 acts asthefulcrumxpoint for the lever. The lever further includes a channel 32 having downwardly slanting edges 33' terminating in upright posts 34. The lever 21 may also include an-outwardly extending fiat portion 36 that may be manually engaged by. actuation. The shafts I3 and I4 are limited in their downward movement induced by.the..-springs :24 by,

means of transversely projecting pins 31 resting upon the lever edges 33.. These pins are so positioned with respect to the length ofthe shafts I3 and I I that the heads I8 and I1 are touching, the top of the body II] when in their normal posi-, tion. Also it should-be noted that the tension of the springs 24 pulls the pins 31 downwardly against the lever 21 asit rests upon the partitions 25 so that the lever 21 is retained within the aperture 28 by engagement of the trough3I with the lower edge of this aperture.

In operation, the entire toy may be positioned in the top of a bottle, or may be manually grasped. The lever 21 may be actuated by engaging the flat projecting surface 36 thereof with the thumb or other digit and rotating it in a clockwise direction with respect to the illustration of Fig. 3. The edges 33of the lever are then:

changed from a downwardly slantingsurface to an upwardly slanting surface; as shown'inbrm ken outline in Fig.3. Accordingly the tension'of the springs 24 acting against-the pins'31 causes" the pins 31 to slide toward the' fulcrum pointSI of the leverandthus cause the shafts I3 and-I4-- to rotate in opposite directions.- This actuation of the lever will also'cause aslightraising ofthe shafts I3 and I4. as'shownin Fig. 2. When the lever 21 isdisengaged, the tension of the-springs 24 will cause theshaftstomove downwardly, thus returning the lever 21 to the starting position shownin Fig. 3. A downwardly slanting surface isthus provided by the edges-Hon thelever, and the springs 24 will cause the pins 31 to slide downwardly on these surfaceawhichinturn rotates the shafts to their starting position. Thus the mechanism of my invention causes the heads of the toy to rotate from their normal position shown in Fig. l to their actuated position shown in Fig. 2, at which point the two figures appear to be kissing each other. The sliding action of the pins on the lever edges may be facilitated by rubbing graphite or other lubricanton the edges 33. The mechanism employed is simple and extremely inexpensive to fabricate.

As noted previously, the body moldings II and I2 may be plastic moldings. The shafts I3 and I4 mayadvantageously be made of wood, although metal or plastic would be satisfactory.

I claim:

1'. A toy comprising: a body member; a pair of. shafts journaled side by side in said body memher, one end of each of said shafts projecting from -saidbody member; toy representations of human heads mounted on said projecting ends; a radially projecting pin on each of said shafts within said body member; a lever fulcrumed on said body member with one end projecting therefrom and with its other inner end in position to be engaged by said pins;- cam-surfaces on said inner end for coacting with said pins to rotate said shafts; and yieldingmeans normally urg ing' said shafts axially in a direction to cause said pins to bear against said lever cam surfaces, said heads and pins being located and positioned so that said heads normally face in the same general direction, and upon actuation of said lever said shafts will be cammed axially and rotated sufficiently to cause said heads-to face each other.

2. A toy comprising: a body member; a pair of shafts journaled side by side in said body member, one end of each of said shafts projecting from said body member; toy representations of human heads mounted on said projecting ends;

- a radially projecting pin on each of said shafts within said body member; a lever fulcrumed-on said body member with one end projecting therefrom and with its other inner endin position to be engaged by said pins; cam surfaces onsaid inner end for coacting with said pins to rotate said shafts; stops at the ends of said cam sur faces for limiting the rotation of said shafts; and yielding means normally urging said-shafts axially in a direction to cause said pins to bear against said lever cam surfaces, said heads and pins being located and positioned so that said heads normally face-in the-samegeneral direction, and upon actuation of said lever said shafts will becammed axially and rotated sufficiently to cause said'heads to face each other.

- NICO BORRESEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record "in'the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS.

Number Name Date D. 146,853 Farbstein June 3, 1947.

1,028,096 Bowman June 4551912v 1,476,199 Gazda Dec. 4,1923 1,583,884 Ile May 11,1926 1,863,925 Fischer et al.. June 21, 1932 2,338,726 Leake Jan. 11,1944

FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date, 1 r

49,999- Germany July: 9, 1889 

